The Las Vegas business community is filled with thousands of successful, inspirational professionals. The Las Vegas Business Press recently went searching for those among the crowd who are Rising Stars in their company, industry or nonprofit group — and the applications poured in. Not only was the expectation that the applicants be accomplished in their fields, we wanted specifically those younger than 40 at the time of this publication’s release.
In this issue, you’ll find the 40 Rising Stars Under 40 our judges deemed worthy of the honor. Our instruction to the judges were simple: identify the best of the best from nearly 100 applications received. Our judges are past Rising Stars themselves. You can find more about them later in the Rising Stars section.
When the judges gave us their selections, we were not surprised to see they had selected top professionals spanning a variety of industries and positions within their organizations.
It is my honor to introduce you to these incredible individuals who have aspirations well beyond their current successes. To help us give you a deeper dive into what makes them unique, our editor, Norman Bell, developed a questionnaire asking each of them to answer a dozen questions, some thought-provoking, some whimsical. The topics were designed to give us a glimpse into the honorees past, present and future. We believe you’ll find their views interesting and compelling.
Their answers kept me reading and wanting more. For example, Mary Bacon’s desire to be a visiting professor on Semester At Sea by 2025 got my attention. Although I’m sure her firm will miss her while she’s on sabbatical, she’ll have a great opportunity to bring home a worldview experience.
Jeremy Gregersen shares his father’s simple advice that even he admitted is difficult to follow. And Kelley Goldberg’s definition of success has me considering meditation. You’ll have to read their answers to see what I mean. Most have even given us a social media clue as to how to stay connected with them as they continue their quests.
The overall themes that I find inspiring in the answers these dynamos provided are their passion for service to others and a good-natured entrepreneurial spirit as they lead growth and innovation for and from within their organizations.
Please join me in congratulating these amazing individuals.
Debbie Donaldson
Publisher